Final Fantasy VII: Battle for the Planet
by Princess of Radiance
Summary: Yet another novelization. An ex-SOLDIER, his childhood friend, and many others are on a journey to bring down an evil coporation, but along the way it turns into much, much more...
1. Prologue Story on a Stormy Night

Holy damn, I can't believe i'm doing this. No, seriously. I've always _wanted _to, but alwas wrote it off as too time-consuming, too headachey. Besides, I would say, there's already about fifty of these floating around here.

Pshyeah, and ninety percent of them are incomplete, and half of them are either not even out of Midgar, sub-par, and/or just totally forgotten about. The ones I HAVE read (including a really popular one that I won't mention), I intensely diliked, due to both awkward characterization of minor characters, overly focusing on minor characters (when the one i'm not naming spent five chapters on those two nameless MPs from the submarine, I gave up on it), and just bad writing in general.

So here I am, starting my own and swearing to have at LEAST one chapter up a week.

But first, the prologue. Yes, those are Cloud and Tifa's kids, as well as Yuffie and Vincent's daughter and Cid and Shera's son. They're just for the prologue and epilogue- nothing else. Don't get pissy and storm off because you don't like my pairing choices, they aren't the focus. I just needed a good framing device.

Enjoy!

Oh, PS: The CloTi kids are named Raine (the girl) and Zack (the boy), the Yuffentine girl is Haruka, and the mini-Cid is Neil. :)

* * *

><p>The children gathered around the couch, flopped carelessly onto the floor. Outside, the rain slapped endlessly into the roof and windows of the bar.<p>

A blonde girl with deep reddish-brown eyes smiled up at her father. "Mom said you were gonna tell us a story tonight, while the storm's out."

Her younger brother, brown-haired, with eyes the same bright, intense blue as his father's, snuggled up next to her. "I hope it's a good one…"

Their father smiled, running a hand through his spiky blond hair – a habit he could never quite kick. "Of course it's a good one. Didn't you all want to hear the story of how your mom, the rest of your parents and I saved the world?"

The four kids cheered. The third one, a pretty girl with black hair, Wutaian features, and deep crimson eyes spoke up. "Finally, we get to hear it. I've been bugging Mom about it for months."

The final one, a scruffy blond boy with his father's old flight goggles perched on his forehead flopped onto his back. "This is gonna be good!"

Cloud smiled. "Well, of course. It's got us in it." As the children laughed, he continued. "Alright, then. The story starts…on a train. Or, I guess, just a little before that…"


	2. Opening Bombing Mission

And so it begins... I know this doesn't sound like Cloud. The prologue/epilogue, like I said, are just framing. They don't have anything to do with the story itself.

Whooo, let's get this party started! Time to blow up a Reactor!

Just a quick memo- I WILL be heavily referencing Crisis Core and Before Crisis. :)

* * *

><p>The night sky, black as velvet and scattered with countless diamond stars. One might stare into that abyss and be lost.<p>

But our story does not take place in the sky.

Instead, we travel downwards, to a city made of steel girders and nightmares. The massive Shinra tower looms over the eight sectors and the slums they sheathe like a menacing, watchman, daring those below to speak against its total might and control.

We travel lower, into the crowded LOVELESS Avenue in the upper Sector 8. Darting down a quiet alley, we see a girl. Pale and beautiful, the girl, a citizen of the Sector 5 Slums, kneels before a faintly glowing grating. After a moment, she stands, brushing dust and dirt off her pink slip. She picks up her basket of yellow and white lilies, and makes her way into the hustle and bustle of the streets.

But here is where we must leave this young lady. She is not important, not yet.

We head instead to a silent, empty train station, connected to the towering Mako Reactor 01. Two guards, their red uniforms starched smartly, lounge against the station wall, waiting for the supply train to arrive. It does soon enough, pulling into the station with the squeal of brakes and the shrill whistle of the engine. One of the guards pushes himself off the wall and saunters over to the boxcar door. Before he can lift it open, however, it raises with a crash and before the man can react, a pair of feet swings into his face, knocking him to the ground and unconscious.

Leaping out over the prone guard is a young man, dark-haired and rugged, wearing simple camo, tough boots, and a bright red headband. From another car, punching the other guard in the face and laying him out alongside his comrade comes a girl, plain and cheerful, with a ponytail and matching bandana.

She gives her teammate a grin and a thumbs-up, and they dash to the reactor entrance, pausing to let a third red-bandana'd young man, this one pudgy and baby-faced, join them.

After the teens leave the area, a fourth man, large and intimidating, exits the car. He grunts in approval at the unconscious guards, and then turns back to the second car.

"C'mon, newcomer. Getcher pasty ass in gear."

As he storms off, the final member of the intruders exits the train, this one with a graceful backflip. He stands smoothly from his crouch, and leisurely makes his way after the others.

He pauses halfway to the steps exiting the station, however. Two Shinra Military Policemen race out in front of them, one hoisting his automatic and the other with a hand menacingly – or attempting to be – on his nightstick.

"Halt, intruder! Identify yourself!"

The man only snorts in response, running a gloved hand through his wild, spiky blond hair. The guards are obviously assuming him to be not a threat, based on his rather unassuming appearance – a faded, damaged old uniform and a lean, wiry frame – a big mistake. He smirks, and as he reaches behind him, the faulty halogen lights flicker back on, revealing the massive sword being lifted from holders on his back, and the man's blue, blue eyes – glowing eerily even in the dim light.

The MPs quickly realize exactly what they're up against. But they stand determined, if now slightly anxious, as the man approaches. As he gets closer, the MP with the automatic unloads at him, beginning to panic slightly. The intruder blocks the bullets with his sword effortlessly, and in two swings the MPs are nothing more than corpses on the station floor.

He continues up the steps and to the left to encounter a large door leading into the reactor complex. It is closed and locked tight. However, the young girl, a freckle-faced nineteen year-old named Jessie Brinks, is kneeling in front of the control panel, laptop open and plugged into it. Her fingers fly across the keyboard, focusing completely on the stream of numbers before her.

The thinner of the two young men, a twenty year-old named Adam Biggs, turns, catching a glimpse of the blond warrior approaching. He grins appreciatively.

"Wow. You're pretty damn good. You were definitely in SOLDIER, alright. Not every day you find one of you big-shots in a little group like ours."

Jessie blinks, startled out of her concentration. She glances up at her friend, worry creasing her forehead under the bandana.

"SOLDIER? Biggs, aren't they enemies? They work for Shinra; you're telling me he's one of them?"

Biggs chuckles at her anxiety. "Hey, calm down, Jessie. It's okay. He _used _to be in SOLDIER. He quit. He's just another guy now, and he's here on our side."

Jessie turns back to the laptop, appeased, and Biggs glances once more at the ex-SOLDIER.

"Y'know, in all the commotion getting ready for the mission tonight, I don't think I caught your name…"

The blond shrugs. "Cloud. Cloud Strife."

Biggs grins. "Cloud, eh? Kinda odd, but what can you do. I'm-"

Cloud cuts him off. "I don't really care, kid. Once we're done here and I get my money, I'm gone. I don't see the point in remembering names of people I won't see again."

Biggs frowns. Before he can speak another word, the leader of their group, the large man from the station, storms up from the right.

"The hell do ya think you all doin'? I thought I told ya NEVER ta move in a group!"

Biggs and the pudgy man, a twenty-one year old named Leroy Grant and nicknamed Wedge, look guiltily at their feet.

As the leader of AVALANCHE tore into the three young people, Cloud watched in mild amusement.

The man really was impressive muscles on muscles and over six feet tall. Battered fatigues and a vest open to reveal his broad, muscular chest did nothing to soften his image. Neither did the tattoo of a fire-breathing skull on his arm, and the jagged scars on his cheek. But perhaps the thing that most intimidated people was his right hand. Or rather, his lack of. From his wrist down was a bulky, powerful machine gun, as frightening as it was deadly.

This was Barret Wallace, and he was not a man to be trifled with.

His rant was interrupted by a loud beep. The other four turn to look at Jessie, who grins triumphantly. "We're in."

Barret nods proudly at her as the hydraulic door slides open. "Aright, ladies, this is go time. Target's the Mako Reactor 01. Meet on the bridge in front."

As the three run past, Jessie gathering up her laptop, Barret stands beside the door. As Cloud attempts to make his way past, however, a meaty hand comes down on his shoulder and squeezes, hard.

"Ex-SOLDIER, huh? I don't trust ya. I'm gonna keep my eye on you, boy."

With a derisive snort, Cloud pushes past him. He follows his young companions through the twisting path of the storage pillboxes in front of the reactor. Turning a corner, he sees a shadow pass to Biggs' right. Before Cloud can draw his blade, the Shinra-trained Guard Hound that was stalking the young mean leaps out to latch its jaws onto his arm. Biggs let out a shout of surprise. Cloud charges forward, but the boy quickly draws a high-caliber handgun from his belt, and calmly shoots the dog's head off.

Cloud stops a step behind Biggs, surprised at the young man's nerves. Biggs turns back and grins at the ex-SOLDIER, casually ripping the cork out of a potion vial with his teeth, downing it in a gulp.

"Don't worry 'bout us, Cloud. We aren't as green as you think."

Cloud shrugs, sharply nodding his assent. _Guess you have to learn how to take care of yourself, living in a place like those slums._

The two continue on across the T-junction balcony and into the reactor itself with no further trouble, reuniting with Wedge and Barret. Biggs kept his handgun drawn the rest of the way, and when they reunite, Cloud notes that Wedge is now carrying an automatic rifle, obviously stolen from an MP.

As they stand in front of the secondary entrance inside the reactor while waiting for Jessie to open the door, Barret turns to Cloud.

"Yo. You ever been in one o' these reactors before, boy?"

Cloud, leaning against a wall, shrugs noncommittally. "Yeah. I did used to work for Shinra, you know."

Barret nods shortly, turning away to watch Jessie. "Y'know, Cloud, this Planet, it's jest fulla Mako energy. We use it just about every day, for everythin' from electricity to jest watchin' TV wit' the family. But, it's the lifeblood o' this Planet. Shinra sucks it outta the earth wit' these damn machines, an' we continue the process jest by livin' our daily lives."

Cloud snorts, rolling his eyes at the back of Barret's head. "I didn't sign up for this to hear you lecture me about your grand mission, you know. Let's just hurry this up."

Barret spins around. "What? You little-" He takes a deep breath, pushing down the urge to slug the little shit on the spot. "I don' trust you, boy. You're comin' wit' ME from now on."

Cloud's eyes widen slightly in annoyance, but he makes no response, merely follows the AVALANCHE members through the hallways, watching as Biggs and Wedge take positions by the outer doors. Jessie stops in front of a smaller hydraulic door, and opens it with a keystroke to reveal a service elevator.

Cloud follows Barret and Jessie inside, and the door hisses shut. Jessie nods at him as he enters, pointing at a yellow button on the far wall. "Could you push that for me, Cloud?"

He does so, and the elevator begins to move down. Barret leans against a wall, still annoyed. "Little by little, Cloud, these reactors'll drain out all o' the life a'this planet. And then…that'll be all she wrote."

Cloud turns towards Barret with an annoyed glare. "Well, it sure isn't my problem."

Barret slams a fist against the elevator wall, making Jessie jump. "The Planet's _dyin', _Cloud! Ya mean ta tell me you don' _care?_"

Cloud rakes a hand through his hair. "Look, Barret, I told you. All I give a damn about right now is finishing the job and getting the hell out of here before they send in any of their security 'bots."

Barret slams his fist against the wall once more, then turns away. They spent the rest of the trip down in silence.

They get out in front of a long flight of stairs, and Cloud dashes down first, Barret close on his heels. Jessie takes up the rear, panting slightly.

At the bottom, they enter a tight downwards corridor of pipes and ladders. Jessie steps to the side, and the two men climb downwards to the reactor's core.

As Cloud crosses the bridge to the core behind Barret, something glints in the grating under his feet. Stopping, he leans down and picks up the object- a small, shining green orb, about the size of a golf ball. A Materia, and judging by the soothing warmth trickling up his arm, a Restore Materia at that. Not having any more room in his sword for another, Cloud slips the orb in his pocket for later. Noticing that Barret is already standing by the core, cloud dashes the final few steps, and stops.

Barret says nothing, but merely tosses a carefully wrapped square package into Cloud's arms.

"This here's a plenty powerful bomb; this place's gonna blow like a firecracker. You go on and set the bomb, boy."

Cloud raises an eyebrow. "You're the almighty leader, Barret. Shouldn't you do it?"

Barret slams his fist into the railing. "Jest do it! Wanna make sure you don' pull nothin'."

Cloud glares. "What, you think I'm still loyal?"

"Tifa's friend or not, can't be too sure."

"Jeez, fine, be my damn guest, big shot," Cloud snaps.

As Cloud kneels to place the bomb, a sudden, sharp screech rips through his head, accompanied by a blistering pain. Biting his lip to keep from crying out, Cloud's hands let go of the bomb to clutch at the sides of his head. Through the pain, through the noise, a voice – vaguely male and somehow familiar, though Cloud can't quite place it – rings clear:

'_Watch out, Cloud! This isn't a normal reactor!'_

And suddenly, it's gone. As if nothing had ever happened. Barret raises an eyebrow. "What's wrong? You gettin' jitters?"

Cloud blinks, still shaking the echoes of the screech out of his head. "Huh?"

"You payin' attention? Hurry the shit up!"

Cloud slaps himself lightly on the forehead to pull his thoughts together, and, licking the blood off his lip where he'd bitten it through, picks up the bomb once more. He nimbly wires it into the core itself, and then presses the button on its side. It chirps out its readiness, and the word 'ARMED' flashes across its LED display.

Almost immediately, the lights in the large room begin flashing crimson with warning, and an alarm clangs out through hidden speakers.

Barret's eyes widen. "Shit! The alarms must've been rewired into the core!"

Cloud stands quickly and turns to face the way they'd come, enhanced senses scanning the area.

"Be on guard, Barret. A security 'bot is on its way."

Barret growled and flicked the safety off on his gun-arm. "Ready when you are, boy."

Hearing a metallic skittering from the ceiling, the men look up just in time to see a massive shadow dropping onto the bridge from above.


End file.
